Photo: Ford Motor Company
The days of the minicar in Europe may not necessarily be numbered, but there’s not much reason to suspect that the tiny cars are on the upswing. Automakers are dropping minicar offerings left and right, and Ford is the latest to join the party with the news that it will end sales of the Ka+ after this year.
As Ford ramps up its efforts to capitalize on the popularity of crossovers, the Ka+ joins the C-MAX and Grand C-MAX in falling by the wayside. Ford sold 22,406 Ka+ cars through the first five months of 2019, according to JATO Dynamics, down 13 percent from the year prior.
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The move also comes as a result of new CO2 reduction targets introduced by the European Union. A Ford spokesperson told Automotive News that the automaker determined the penalties the Ka+ would face in 2020 when the targets take effect would make the minicar “less attractive to customers in a competitive segment.”
But as Auto News notes, the segment seems to becoming less and less competitive by the day with Opel/Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen, Volkswagen, Skoda, and Seat all promising or poised to drop their minicar offerings. The likely replacement for these vehicles would be fully electric city cars; per Ford and VW’s expanded global alliance, a new Ford-branded electric car will spring up from the MEB platform in 2023.
Ford is upending much of its lineup as it seeks to create better profitability. The new Puma and two additional utility vehicles will join the lineup in the next five years as part of Ford’s effort to “[introduce] exciting vehicles soon that will better match customer demand in Europe.”
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News Source: Automotive News (subscription required)
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